From dreams to reality as friends set up quirky shop in Lancaster

Two friends are launching a new business venture in Lancaster city centre this weekend.

Northern Yarn and Penny Street Collectables opens on Saturday September 2 – and a Channel 4 camera crew will be there to film as part of a forthcoming TV series.

Kate Makin.

The new shop is the brainchild of friends Kate Makin and Jess Tubman.

Kate runs Northern Yarn, a local yarn business that produces and sells its own range of wool – Poll Dorset/Bluefaced Leicester ‘Northern Yarn’ – as well as many other well-known, local and British wool brands, including Lancashire Farm Wool, New Lanark and West Yorkshire Spinners.

Kate has a stall on Lancaster market and also runs a knitting group at the Gregson Centre on Monday evenings.

She will sell her wool and accessories in the shop, while Jess will bring her expertise in antiques and collectables, selling a mixture of old and new pottery and glass and small pieces of furniture as well as silver jewellery. Popular names on offer will include Emma Bridegwater, Susie Watson, Royal Dalton and Medina glass.

Jess Tubman.

Jess’s love of antiques and collectables started when she was 14 and worked in her mum’s antiques shop.